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Richard Basehart shoots down an LAPD officer one night after the offduty patrolman stops him for some suspicious activity. The officer who paid with his life had every reason to be suspicious, Basehart was attempting to break into an electronics store.

The shooting sets off a manhunt that takes more than a month. Captain Roy Roberts and Detective Scott Brady lead the investigation which takes both men into some unexpected places in trying to track down the culprit.

This was Richard Basehart's breakthrough role in He Walked By Night. He plays a really diabolical stone cold killer in this one who apparently has no liking for humans. His only companion in the world is a dog.

This clever little noir thriller is done in the documentary style that seemed to be in vogue after World War II. I'm also sure that the final chase scene through the storm drain must have inspired Carol Reed to put it in The Third Man where the idea got more notice.

The lack of really big name stars gives this film a realistic approach. Look for Jack Webb in a supporting role as a police lab technician. I Don't doubt he got the idea for Dragnet from working on He Walked By Night.

Alone in a cheap motor court with only a mutt dog and a squirrelly landlady, Roy Martin (Richard Basehart) lives an underground existence. He's got no friends, no girl, no job, yet he's one of the more fascinating creations in the noir pantheon. Just when you think he's out of tricks, he pulls out a shotgun as the cops close in. He's hidden one deep inside a storm drain for an emergency like this. Now we know what he does with his time-- he's a one-man army against the machinery of modern society.

But wait, he's not against the plug-in kind of machinery. Martin's a closet genius at modifying the most sophisticated electronics, an untrained innovator with just that kind of intelligence. Does he do it for money-- it's hard to tell. We do know he's not above presenting someone else's work as his own. However, that demeaning aspect may simply be the script complying with Production Code requirements. Businessman Whit Bissell would like to partner up with the mystery man's skills, offering a research laboratory in return. But when Martin refuses with a knowing smile, we know he's got his own drummer. And, we also know that anyone who gets in the way of that drummer turns the science whiz into a cold-blooded killer.

At first I thought it a mistake that the screenplay didn't fill in more of Martin's personal story, something that might get a handle on his extreme behavior. But on second thought, better to leave him a mystery man of rare and unfeeling talents. That way, we're free to speculate on a background instead of having to settle for some half-baked Freudianism circa 1948. The character strikes me as someone who has chosen to live outside normal bounds as a challenge to his ingenuity and resourcefulness, both of which he possesses in spades.

And it's that, I think, which makes him an unusual crime figure. Time and again, he uses those qualities to defeat the relentless machinery of law enforcement, shown in its many scientific and professional phases. Basehart the actor manages a number of subtle shadings conveying a depth of character not shown by the impersonal forces of law and order. Not that the screenplay doesn't try to humanize the cops-- that's the point of the convalescent hospital scene and the crime lab joshing. Rather, for the professionals, it's a job. For Martin, however, it's something deeper, more interesting, but not necessarily admirable.

The movie itself has an uncredited Anthony Mann written all over it, especially the scenes with Basehart. Director Mann, cameraman John Alton, and scripters Higgins and Essex are responsible, I expect, for pointing away from the rather dull procedures onto the noirish atmosphere of outlaw alienation. Of course, bit player Jack Webb saw how popular such procedures could be for a TV audience and spun them off into one of the 1950's most successful series. But it's the underground man Roy Martin, alone with his mutt dog and inner demons that makes up one of noir's most fascinating crime figures. And on a final note of irony, notice how close Martin comes to a last minute escape were it not for that diabolical god of the noir universe-- the Hand of Fate.

These comments are being submitted by Sgt. Mary Wynn's oldest son, Charles S. Wynn. I do have several additions and corrections regarding your comments about my father. The Walker case was one of several outstanding cases that was investigated by Sgt. Wynn and partners. Over the years, my brother and I would sit and listen to these stories being retold by the officers who worked the case.

Comment #1 I can never recall him being referred to as "Tough Guy." Comment #2 The movie, "He Walked by Night" was produced by the Eagle Lion Studio. My father was contacted and asked if he would give the technical direction. While doing so, he met a down-and-out actor named Jack Webb. Webb had a ten minute part as a lab technician in the movie and was not depicted as a detective. During one of their conversations, Wynn mentioned to Webb, "It's a shame they don't have a radio show that depicts the actual policeman and the work that he does." At that time, the lead detective show was "Sam Spade."

They derived the title, "He Walked by Night," to the fact that he committed most of his crimes at night. The film, itself, was not accurate. The use of the storm drains in the City of L. A. was strictly Hollywood. When Walker was captured he was located in a rented bungalow located on Argyle St. in L. A. Three officers, Donohoe, Wynn and Rombo, entered this location at 2:30 A.M. surprising Walker while he slept. A physical confrontation took place. Walker was armed with a machine gun at which time he succeeded in getting the clip into the weapon. Donohoe yelled, "Shoot him, Marty! He's got the gun!" Wynn took him down, striking him numerous times over the head with the butt of his 38 revolver. Walker, still struggling and in possession of the gun, Wynn then put the gun to Walker's back and fired twice. It was noted that when Wynn examined his gun, he had cracked the grip of the pistol. When Walker was placed in the ambulance, he asked Wynn, "Do you have any kids?" Wynn said, "Yes, I have two boys." Walker replied, "You're lucky because you came close to not seeing your kids again." At that time, he told Wynn, "they will never execute for this crime and I will live to see the day where I will kill you." In 1959, Walker succeeded in escaping from Atascadero. Three days later he was captured. Wynn was forced to strap his 38 again after two years of retirement.

If you desire any more information regard Sgt. Marty Wynn or the film, please contact me at this e-address.

As related on http://www.adam-12.com/webb.htm ...

• quote -

In 1949, Jack landed the role of Lt. Lee Jones in the film

"He walked by Night." After meeting LAPD Sgt. Marty Wynn,

a technical advisor for the show, Jack got the idea to develop

Dragnet after being invited to review LAPD case files.

• end quote -

Several elements associated with _Dragnet_ appear already in _He Walked_: not only the stolid narration but also the devotion of time to routine and even futile work, the interviewing of oddballs, the explication of technology, and the incidental chit-chat about the family.

One interesting point is that we never get to find out the killer's motive: even at the expense of the audience's aesthetic satisfaction, the killer's point of view is denied to us. The only lessons we can learn from the movie are the lessons that the police learn.

This is a true story...

It's known to the Police Department of one of our largest cities as the most difficult homicide case in its experience. Principally because of the diabolical cleverness, intelligence and cunning of a completely unknown killer.....The record is set down here factually-as it happened. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Cracking little noir picture this one. Richard Baseheart is Davis Morgan, a cold and calculated thief and murderer. He is not only unknown to the police, but also to the Los Angeles underworld. Something which made him a terrifying ghost on the streets. Based on the real life case of cop-killer come thief Erwin Walker, who in 1946 struck terror into the heart of LA, He Walked By Night zips along at a frenetic pace but maintains all the darkness requisites of the Film Noir genre. Directed by Alfred Walker (aided by one uncredited Anthony Mann) and also starring Jack Webb (who used the piece as inspiration for the popular "Dragnet" TV series), the picture has excellent use of shadows and a brilliant finale down in the Los Angeles drainage system. Where the sound of guns and running feet is just ferocious.

Baseheart is suitably chilling as a man coming unhinged by the day, whilst a home surgery sequence shows Baseheart to have had no small amount of ability. It's notable with Morgan's character that it's people he just doesn't like, there's a very telling scene with his dog that is sweet but at the same time saying so much about the man himself. This film reminded me very much of Edward Dmytryk's similarly fine 1952 film, The Sniper. So much so I'd say that as a double bill they be perfect for each other. With added plot worth in the form of early police forensics (check out the photo fit technique) and a largely unknown support cast adding a raw reality to proceedings, He Walked By Night comes highly recommended to fans of the Noir and Crime genres. 8/10